Government spending too fast

[NewsWhore]

The government has a surplus of RD$4.7 billion in revenues, according to a report in Listin Diario's economic section. Nevertheless, journalist Hector Linares expresses concern about the fact that the pace of spending has been much faster than the pace of tax collecting. The spread during the first seven and a half months of the year was 12.7 points. Listin Diario reports that government revenues were up by 21%, while government spending was up by 33.7% as of mid August compared to the same period in 2005. The newspaper reports that as of 11 August, the government had received revenues for RD$109.4 billion, and spent RD$104.6 billion. The government received a bonanza of tax collections that would have served to compensate for tax reductions on the occasion of the implementation of DR-CAFTA in January 2006. The agreement is now scheduled for implementation in November 2006.
Even though income is one of the variables most difficult to calculate, it was growing at a rate above last year, although it was below the estimates made by the Ministry of Finance for the first three quarters. As of 11 August, with 59.25% of the year gone by, the government has spent 63.19% of the budget. Expressed in another set of figures, income grew by 21% but expenditures went up by 33.7% over the same timeframe. These figures are contained in a report from the Ministry of Finance Department of Economic Studies.

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